Yes. I saw Obama speak in person, as a 48 yr old, I wanted to hear what he had to say that might be of substance vs. the 'rock star' status he had been gaining.

First comment he made was a promise if he became President, the WAR WOULD BE OVER.

hmmm we'll see about that; not to forget to mention those million $$ box seats Pfizer had at the DNC.

An Iraq veteran from Texas died in his sleep while on Seroquel and Prozac. His name was Chad Oligschlaeger. He was 21 years old.

He was also taking lorazepam and the antidepressant trazadone. He had been diagnosed with PTSD.

If a non-medical person such as a victim's father can find all these cases of Seroquel and Paxil where a soldier died in his sleep, then I think there are probably many more of these tragic cases. I agree it is the tip of the iceberg.

Why does a "father" have to find these cases? Where are the military investigators?

This is just shocking. When someone dies from an adverse reaction medical professionals run in the other direction; most coroners run in the other direction. The only people left to make a ruckus are the survivors, family members who are overcome with grief and awake to the nightmare that the system has completely betrayed them and their loved one. I've been there. I know. Once my daughter was dead the doctors couldn't show me to the door fast enough. Did they have any interest in what really happened? No, absolutely not. Did they even realize they could have requested a copy of the autopsy report without going through me? No. Their only interest was to keep me from suing them. They were scared shitless but did they want to learn from the experience? They could have cared less. Until you see it in practice you simply cannot believe that this is the way things are but it is. And because of this arrogance and denial the "accidents" and deaths and suffering pile up. I truly believe that the suffering of the Iraqi veterans and their families that is going to occur here on the home front as a result of these systemic failures is going to rival the bloodshed on the war front.

Sara, I don't know you how you do what you do in your advocacy work. My heart breaks for you.

Yeah, I can believe what you're saying. When my mother was alive, I feel she was the victim of malpractice. I don't feel that directly killed her but I think it hastened her decline.

Anyway, when I asked questions, they had a CYA mentality even though suing was not an option since she was elderly and the chances of winning were slim and none.

My heart also breaks for these surviving parents. I am just speechless and heartbroken at all the cruelty in the psych world. And as you say, the professionals don't give a damm and instead, call us antipsychiatry zealots.

My father is a Veteran. He taught both his daughters to respect and help those who served in Vietnam, and the Middle East Under both President Bushes.

What this country is doing to our young men and women is horrible. It broke my dad's heart.

My dad is the kindest man that ever lived and he doesn't deserve to have his heart broken.

I take Seroquel, Effexor and Klonopin due to unbearable withdrawal symptoms.
I just thank the Lord I don't have a children.
No drug can cope with what these men has been through.

Disabled vet from the first Gulf war here...

Cymbalta, Celebrex, Fentanyl and Morphine Sulphate cocktails for me every day, along with Botox shots in my thoracic and cervical spine every four months. The cocktail is Rx'd by my pain management specialist doc in conjunction with my Neurologist doc, and I am seen once a month for "maintenance" by both the pain doc and a psychiatrist in the same office to track my "sanity levels" as I call the visits.

I wrote all that just to say that I dread the thought of the Cymbalta ever losing its efficacy for me and having to withdraw off of it. I had a screwup about three months ago between the Neurologist, his nurse and the nurse that takes phonecalls for prescription refills and I ended up being without the Cymbalta for six (6) days before I was able to get a new Rx written for it. I thought I was losing my mind, crying at literally everything around me, the "head shocks", intense pain from the neuropathy returning full force. It was a bad, bad, bad six days.

Stiff Man, thank you for your service, for what it is worth, i really appreciate it. I am also on Cymbalta. My doc told me to go off it cold turkey when i complained of side effects. i went from 60 mg to zero in a day. After a week i thought i was loosing my mind. We finally decided to go back on it and try to taper. As of today,, the tapering has not started, the doc has signed off on it .So if I want to taper i have to do it myself, without medical assistance.

Sara, I have been reading you all these years and did not know your back story. My heart breaks for you and your daughter. I am so sorry for your loss.

I worked in rehab in the early 80's. We had a lot of Viet Nam vets. Every single one of them had a chronic pain condition. Every one of them had a substance abuse problem. Every one of them had "don't give this guy habit-forming drugs" written all over their medical records. And every one of them was drugged to the gills by the VA medicos. I remember one guy showing up with a bottle of 1000 perodan, standing in my office doorway saying "I don't think this is good for me" as he shook the bottle.

The message from the VA to these guys was loud and clear: "Sit down, shut up and go away. We'd be happy if you'd die."

The vets' response was to start their own self-help centers to talk about their PTSD issues. These were brave people who bucked the system. I am an incest survivor who owes a tremendous debt to these people for their fine example of what happens when you refuse to shut up about it.

In the end, we're on our own to deal with trauma issues. I don't think society at large will ever want to change things. But those vets did force the VA to at least acknowledge PTSD exists. Plans were made before the first Gulf war for PTSD treatment in the VA system and there are now treatment centers for it, although the state of the treatment art is quite rudimentary at this point--and prevention is such a no brainer that never seems to occur to those in charge. Obviously the plans made by the current crop of bozos in the White House before the current invasion of Iraq were not nearly as comprehensive.

We have a long way to go and we need to never shut up about it.

One reason I almost did not vote for Obama is because he supports mandatory mental health screening of all military personnel because in the end all this means is forced drugging. Try being a veteran labeled as having ptsd if you really want some stigma. It's right up there with antisocial personality disorder and schizophrenia in the stigma department.

However the issue is enormously complex and the Obama camp seems genuinely interested in doing the right thing in this arena as this link somewhat related, indicates:

http://obama.senate.gov/news/070419-why_were_soldie/